Coast Guardsman found dead in home

No obvious cause of death; authorities investigating

Local police and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service are both investigating the death of a 43-year-old Coast Guardsman found in his Juneau home on Saturday.

An obvious cause of death could not be determined because the body was too decomposed, said Juneau Police Department Lt. David Campbell. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

In an interview Tuesday, Campbell confirmed the man’s identity as Paul D’Angelo. Next of kin has been notified. Childhood friends said D’Angelo was from Plymouth, Mass.

Police said D’Angelo had not been to work for about two weeks due to an illness. A coworker checking in on him gained access into his residence through the landlord and discovered the body. Police responded to the home in the 800 block of Front Street in Douglas at about 5 p.m. Saturday.

While the cause of death is unknown at this time, Campbell said police are aware of medical issues and medication was found in the home. The spokesman added nothing from the scene indicated it was a suicide, such as a suicide note.

Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow, a spokesman for Coast Guard District 17 in Alaska, said the lost shipmate was a member of the Coast Guard’s Civil Engineering Unit in Juneau. CEU Juneau provides engineering services for Coast Guard operations throughout the state.

“Our sincere condolences are with the person’s family and his shipmates who worked closely with him,” Wadlow said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Wadlow said he was prohibited from releasing any identifying information about the man, including his name, as well as any details in the case due to an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. The Investigative Service is the federal law enforcement agency that carries out the Coast Guard’s internal and external criminal investigations.